U.S. v. Tehrani
| Decision Date | 23 February 1995 |
| Docket Number | D,No. 552,552 |
| Citation | 49 F.3d 54 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Mehdi TEHRANI, Defendant, Amir Alaei, Defendant-Appellant. ocket 94-1234. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Bradley S. Stetler, Stetler & Allen, Burlington, VT, for defendant-appellant.
Paul J. Van De Graaf, Asst. U.S. Atty. for D. Vt., Burlington, VT (Charles R. Tetzlaff, U.S. Atty., David V. Kirby, Chief, Criminal Div., on the brief), for appellee.
Before: MINER, ALTIMARI and CALABRESI, Circuit Judges.
Defendant-appellant Amir Alaei appeals from a judgment of conviction entered in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont (Parker, C.J.), upon a plea of guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the possession of counterfeit access devices with intent to defraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1029(a)(3). After Alaei and a co-defendant were detained in the Burlington, Vermont airport on suspicion that they had entered the country illegally, authorities discovered incriminating materials leading to the instant conviction. Alaei and his co-defendant moved to suppress the evidence on the ground that the initial stop, the subsequent detention and their arrests were illegal. The district court granted the motion to suppress as to a driver's license found in Alaei's pocket and certain statements made by the suspects but determined that all other evidence was admissible. 826 F.Supp. 789. Alaei appeals the partial denial of his motion to suppress. Finding no error by the district court, we affirm.
Alaei was arrested, together with co-defendant Mehdi Tehrani, at the Burlington, Vermont International Airport on November 13, 1992 by United States Border Patrol Agent Paul Moran and Vermont State Trooper Paul Cucinelli. At about 10:30 a.m. Agent Moran noticed three men dressed in unusually expensive clothes enter the terminal from an entrance providing access to passengers arriving via ground transport. Aware that aliens were frequently apprehended at a nearby border crossing, and because of the men's behavior and appearance, Moran suspected the trio of having illegally entered the country from Canada.
Moran, who at some point enlisted Trooper Cucinelli's aid, observed the three as they separately walked through the airport. After some five minutes, the three regrouped to approach the Business Express ticket counter. Tehrani and Alaei checked luggage and then waited inside the terminal. Moran spoke with the Business Express ticket agent who told him that the three men had been in the terminal on previous occasions, and had made reservations, but had never bought a ticket. On that day, however, Tehrani had bought two one-way tickets to Las Vegas with a Visa credit card.
Alerted by the ticket agent who could see the men, Moran turned to see Tehrani leaving the building. Moran and Cucinelli followed Tehrani into the short-term parking area. About half-way across the lot, Tehrani noticed the two agents following him. Reversing direction, he walked toward Cucinelli and Moran, who introduced themselves. They inquired of Tehrani where he was from and asked that he identify himself. He responded "defensively," suggesting that he was being stopped because he was Iranian. He told the agents that they had no right to detain him and that he would sue them, and continued walking back toward the terminal. Although Moran and Cucinelli did not try to stop him, they accompanied him, continuing to ask questions.
Tehrani told them that he had walked from the Canadian border, which was some forty miles away. He also said, inconsistently, that he had entered the United States at Burlington. He denied travelling with anyone, refused to identify himself, and declined to produce identification. Moran advised him that he had an obligation to carry identification and to produce it upon a request from a Border Patrol Agent.
Cucinelli, meanwhile, asked no questions and stayed a short distance away. When Tehrani became upset, the state trooper attempted to calm him down and suggested that he accompany him to a state police department office inside the terminal. Upon reaching the small office, the two waited for Moran, who had left them at the terminal entrance in order to speak with Alaei, who had remained seated in the waiting area. It was about 10:40 a.m. The third individual disappeared and is not part of this case.
Alaei, meanwhile, told Moran that he was en route to Las Vegas, which corroborated what the airline representative had said to Moran. At Moran's request, Alaei produced an evidently valid Canadian citizen card. He was unable, however, to tell the agent how he had entered the country. He said that he had been travelling in a jeep with Tehrani, who had denied having travelling companions. Alaei soon acceded to Moran's request to accompany him to the state trooper's office.
Back at the office, Moran informed Tehrani and Alaei that he suspected that they were illegal aliens. He told them that he intended to verify their identities, their immigration status, and their documents. He also informed them that they would not make their scheduled 11:10 a.m. flight. After asking Alaei a few more questions about his employment, criminal history and travel plans, Moran began making phone calls to confirm the detainees' immigration status. Eventually, he learned that Alaei had been twice refused entry into the country. While Moran investigated the two, Cucinelli, unbeknownst to the detainees, went to the Business Express counter and told the airline to hold the men's luggage. He testified later that it was his practice to delay baggage belonging to individuals under investigation. He believed that detained travellers preferred to have their luggage with them when they eventually travelled.
After Cucinelli returned, Moran noticed Alaei dropping something to the floor. Moran picked up a Concordia University student identification card which Alaei had been attempting to kick away. The card bore the name "Franco Cantini." Moran noticed that Alaei had his hand inside the outer pocket of his jacket. Concerned for his safety, he grabbed Alaei's hand, yanking it out of the pocket. Alaei shoved the agent in return. Although Alaei's hand was empty, Moran retrieved from the pocket a torn driver's license also bearing the name "Franco Cantini." In response to Cucinelli's question, Alaei explained that identification in different names allowed students to take exams for others.
Moran then patted down both Tehrani and Alaei. The two conversed in a language which the agents neither understood nor recognized. During the interview, Tehrani, who had remained defensive, had received several phone calls, which he was permitted to conduct in the same language, on a cellular phone. After the patdown, Alaei, too, became somewhat defensive. Eventually, however, Tehrani became more cooperative and told the agents that he had crossed the border in Vermont in a Nissan and had told the border agents that he intended to go to Boston for a few days. Both Alaei and Tehrani admitted to lying about their real Las Vegas destination upon entering the United States.
At about 11:30 a.m., right after the men admitted to having misled border patrol agents at the point of entry, Tehrani and Alaei were administratively arrested. Moran told them that, by lying, they had violated the terms of their entry into the country and would face civil deportation proceedings. Shortly thereafter, their luggage was delivered to the office. Tehrani consented to a search of his luggage which revealed twenty counterfeit credit cards in the name "Franco Cantini." Tehrani expressed surprise.
Alaei filed a motion to suppress the physical evidence and statements obtained by the agents. After a hearing, the district court granted the motion to suppress Alaei's statements and the driver's license found in his jacket pocket but denied the rest of his motion which would have required, in relevant part, suppression of the student identification card in the name "Franco Cantini" which Alaei had attempted to discard in the police office. In a thorough and well-reasoned opinion, the court found that the encounters with the agents were consensual until the point when Tehrani and Alaei were separately asked to retire to the state police office. The court ruled that, although the men were then seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, the investigative detentions were permissible because they were (1) supported by a reasonable articulable suspicion, and (2) as brief as possible given the purpose of the stop. The district court also held (1) that the detention of Tehrani's luggage, where the twenty credit cards were found, was permissible because the investigative detention of Tehrani was lawful and thus could not taint the seizure of his luggage, and (2) that Tehrani's consent to the search of his luggage was voluntarily given.
Subsequently, Alaei pleaded guilty, pursuant to a conditional agreement with the government, to one count of aiding and abetting the possession of unauthorized credit cards. The agreement allowed him to appeal the partial denial of his motion to suppress evidence. On appeal, Alaei asserts that the agents lacked reasonable suspicion to detain him when they escorted him to Cucinelli's office. Alaei also maintains that he was subject to a de facto arrest during the approximately thirty minute period prior to the moment when he attempted to discard the student identification card. He therefore urges that the district court erred when it denied in part his motion to suppress because the searches and seizures were the result of the infringement of his rights under the Fourth Amendment.
Whether a seizure occurred and, if so, whether it was justified by the requisite showing, are questions of law to be reviewed de novo. See United States v. Glover, 957...
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